Art has the ability to humanise experiences of suffering. It documents past wars, genocides, and tragedies. By capturing moments of pain these experiences are immortalised. Furthermore, artists have the ability, unlike any politician or ruler, to create pieces of work that truly capture and highlight emotive and painful experiences, making them more easily translated and understood by wider audiences. One example of this, was the AIDS epidemic.
The AIDS epidemic began in the early 1980s. Along with it brought condemnation of the LGBT community. Artist activists documenting the AIDS pandemic sought to make a socio-political statement that communicated how the LGBT community had been marginalised. They stressed the medical impact of the disease whilst also delivering a message that expressed loss.
Gran Fury
Before the times of social media, getting a message out to the public and mass audiences was not simple. The arty activists’ collective known as Gran Fury, based in New York, utilised a powerful and dynamic combination of graphic design, guerrilla dissemination tactics and public installations to communicate important socio-political matters. One such piece was SILENCE = DEATH, a graphic that came to define the AIDS/HIV activist movement of the 1980s and 1990s. The graphic uses a pink neon triangle, a symbol used by Nazis to mark gay men in death camps, to further the analogy between the AIDS crisis and the Holocaust.
One other powerful work created by Gran Fury was the installation ‘Let the Record Show’. This installation was a response to an editorial piece by archconservative William F. Buckley who had proposed that people with AIDS should be tattooed on the arm or buttocks to protect further victimisation of drug users and homosexuals, while the Reagan administration remained silent. The work combined the use of the popular graphic and cardboard cut-outs of six public figures who had perpetrated the crisis in some form or other. It documented evidence of these public figures’ crimes such as misrepresentations of the AIDS to ignoring the issue altogether. The graphic was posted in different locations of the city, a strategy to increase awareness in various communities.
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
In 1985, The Quilt was created by gay right activist Cleve Jones. In a march to commemorate assassinations of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Major George Moscone, Jones learnt that over 1000 San Franciscans had been lost to the AIDS pandemic. He asked fellow marchers to write the names of their lost loved ones and taped placards to the wall of the Francisco Federal Building. The wall looked like a patchwork quilt which inspired plans for a larger memorial. The Quilt was continuously added to over the epidemic and now has over 110,000 names and spans a space larger than a football field. This work aims to memorialise those that society at the time would otherwise neglect.
David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz was an American artist who defied being pigeon holed by a signature style. His works spanned that of photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing and activism. Queer and later diagnosed with HIV, he became an advocate for people with AIDS when an inconceivable number of his loved ones were dying due to government inaction. His teacher and lover and artist in his own right, Peter Hujar, passed away in 1987. He passed away from AIDS and Wojnarowicz photographed him, moments after his death, hauntingly and more importantly accurately documenting what AIDS does to a human being. Hujar was known for being a strikingly good-looking man with a strong jaw, and this disease had destroyed him and rendered him unrecognisable. Wojnarowicz’work, whilst full of rage and political points, also captured the experience and suffering of an individual with AIDS rather than referring to it as a general issue. Whilst shocking, his images of Hujar were deeply personal and communicated the true nature of the disease making them very hard for the public to ignore.
Art can be as important as science. Artist activists, groups and individuals alike, were the driving force for the increased attention to AIDS. Governments were willing to ignore the crisis and not address it in the media. Artistic movements increased public awareness and knowledge and lead to the later development of drugs that make HIV something more manageable in this day and age.
Art has the ability to humanise experiences of suffering. It documents past wars, genocides, and tragedies. By capturing moments of pain these experiences are immortalised. Furthermore, artists have the ability, unlike any politician or ruler, to create pieces of work that truly capture and highlight emotive and painful experiences, making them more easily translated and understood by wider audiences. One example of this, was the AIDS epidemic.
The AIDS epidemic began in the early 1980s. Along with it brought condemnation of the LGBT community. Artist activists documenting the AIDS pandemic sought to make a socio-political statement that communicated how the LGBT community had been marginalised. They stressed the medical impact of the disease whilst also delivering a message that expressed loss.
Gran Fury
Before the times of social media, getting a message out to the public and mass audiences was not simple. The arty activists’ collective known as Gran Fury, based in New York, utilised a powerful and dynamic combination of graphic design, guerrilla dissemination tactics and public installations to communicate important socio-political matters. One such piece was SILENCE = DEATH, a graphic that came to define the AIDS/HIV activist movement of the 1980s and 1990s. The graphic uses a pink neon triangle, a symbol used by Nazis to mark gay men in death camps, to further the analogy between the AIDS crisis and the Holocaust.
One other powerful work created by Gran Fury was the installation ‘Let the Record Show’. This installation was a response to an editorial piece by archconservative William F. Buckley who had proposed that people with AIDS should be tattooed on the arm or buttocks to protect further victimisation of drug users and homosexuals, while the Reagan administration remained silent. The work combined the use of the popular graphic and cardboard cut-outs of six public figures who had perpetrated the crisis in some form or other. It documented evidence of these public figures’ crimes such as misrepresentations of the AIDS to ignoring the issue altogether. The graphic was posted in different locations of the city, a strategy to increase awareness in various communities.
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
In 1985, The Quilt was created by gay right activist Cleve Jones. In a march to commemorate assassinations of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Major George Moscone, Jones learnt that over 1000 San Franciscans had been lost to the AIDS pandemic. He asked fellow marchers to write the names of their lost loved ones and taped placards to the wall of the Francisco Federal Building. The wall looked like a patchwork quilt which inspired plans for a larger memorial. The Quilt was continuously added to over the epidemic and now has over 110,000 names and spans a space larger than a football field. This work aims to memorialise those that society at the time would otherwise neglect.
David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz was an American artist who defied being pigeon holed by a signature style. His works spanned that of photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing and activism. Queer and later diagnosed with HIV, he became an advocate for people with AIDS when an inconceivable number of his loved ones were dying due to government inaction. His teacher and lover and artist in his own right, Peter Hujar, passed away in 1987. He passed away from AIDS and Wojnarowicz photographed him, moments after his death, hauntingly and more importantly accurately documenting what AIDS does to a human being. Hujar was known for being a strikingly good-looking man with a strong jaw, and this disease had destroyed him and rendered him unrecognisable. Wojnarowicz’work, whilst full of rage and political points, also captured the experience and suffering of an individual with AIDS rather than referring to it as a general issue. Whilst shocking, his images of Hujar were deeply personal and communicated the true nature of the disease making them very hard for the public to ignore.
Art can be as important as science. Artist activists, groups and individuals alike, were the driving force for the increased attention to AIDS. Governments were willing to ignore the crisis and not address it in the media. Artistic movements increased public awareness and knowledge and lead to the later development of drugs that make HIV something more manageable in this day and age.
Art has the ability to humanise experiences of suffering. It documents past wars, genocides, and tragedies. By capturing moments of pain these experiences are immortalised. Furthermore, artists have the ability, unlike any politician or ruler, to create pieces of work that truly capture and highlight emotive and painful experiences, making them more easily translated and understood by wider audiences. One example of this, was the AIDS epidemic.
The AIDS epidemic began in the early 1980s. Along with it brought condemnation of the LGBT community. Artist activists documenting the AIDS pandemic sought to make a socio-political statement that communicated how the LGBT community had been marginalised. They stressed the medical impact of the disease whilst also delivering a message that expressed loss.
Gran Fury
Before the times of social media, getting a message out to the public and mass audiences was not simple. The arty activists’ collective known as Gran Fury, based in New York, utilised a powerful and dynamic combination of graphic design, guerrilla dissemination tactics and public installations to communicate important socio-political matters. One such piece was SILENCE = DEATH, a graphic that came to define the AIDS/HIV activist movement of the 1980s and 1990s. The graphic uses a pink neon triangle, a symbol used by Nazis to mark gay men in death camps, to further the analogy between the AIDS crisis and the Holocaust.
One other powerful work created by Gran Fury was the installation ‘Let the Record Show’. This installation was a response to an editorial piece by archconservative William F. Buckley who had proposed that people with AIDS should be tattooed on the arm or buttocks to protect further victimisation of drug users and homosexuals, while the Reagan administration remained silent. The work combined the use of the popular graphic and cardboard cut-outs of six public figures who had perpetrated the crisis in some form or other. It documented evidence of these public figures’ crimes such as misrepresentations of the AIDS to ignoring the issue altogether. The graphic was posted in different locations of the city, a strategy to increase awareness in various communities.
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
In 1985, The Quilt was created by gay right activist Cleve Jones. In a march to commemorate assassinations of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Major George Moscone, Jones learnt that over 1000 San Franciscans had been lost to the AIDS pandemic. He asked fellow marchers to write the names of their lost loved ones and taped placards to the wall of the Francisco Federal Building. The wall looked like a patchwork quilt which inspired plans for a larger memorial. The Quilt was continuously added to over the epidemic and now has over 110,000 names and spans a space larger than a football field. This work aims to memorialise those that society at the time would otherwise neglect.
David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz was an American artist who defied being pigeon holed by a signature style. His works spanned that of photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing and activism. Queer and later diagnosed with HIV, he became an advocate for people with AIDS when an inconceivable number of his loved ones were dying due to government inaction. His teacher and lover and artist in his own right, Peter Hujar, passed away in 1987. He passed away from AIDS and Wojnarowicz photographed him, moments after his death, hauntingly and more importantly accurately documenting what AIDS does to a human being. Hujar was known for being a strikingly good-looking man with a strong jaw, and this disease had destroyed him and rendered him unrecognisable. Wojnarowicz’work, whilst full of rage and political points, also captured the experience and suffering of an individual with AIDS rather than referring to it as a general issue. Whilst shocking, his images of Hujar were deeply personal and communicated the true nature of the disease making them very hard for the public to ignore.
Art can be as important as science. Artist activists, groups and individuals alike, were the driving force for the increased attention to AIDS. Governments were willing to ignore the crisis and not address it in the media. Artistic movements increased public awareness and knowledge and lead to the later development of drugs that make HIV something more manageable in this day and age.
Art has the ability to humanise experiences of suffering. It documents past wars, genocides, and tragedies. By capturing moments of pain these experiences are immortalised. Furthermore, artists have the ability, unlike any politician or ruler, to create pieces of work that truly capture and highlight emotive and painful experiences, making them more easily translated and understood by wider audiences. One example of this, was the AIDS epidemic.
The AIDS epidemic began in the early 1980s. Along with it brought condemnation of the LGBT community. Artist activists documenting the AIDS pandemic sought to make a socio-political statement that communicated how the LGBT community had been marginalised. They stressed the medical impact of the disease whilst also delivering a message that expressed loss.
Gran Fury
Before the times of social media, getting a message out to the public and mass audiences was not simple. The arty activists’ collective known as Gran Fury, based in New York, utilised a powerful and dynamic combination of graphic design, guerrilla dissemination tactics and public installations to communicate important socio-political matters. One such piece was SILENCE = DEATH, a graphic that came to define the AIDS/HIV activist movement of the 1980s and 1990s. The graphic uses a pink neon triangle, a symbol used by Nazis to mark gay men in death camps, to further the analogy between the AIDS crisis and the Holocaust.
One other powerful work created by Gran Fury was the installation ‘Let the Record Show’. This installation was a response to an editorial piece by archconservative William F. Buckley who had proposed that people with AIDS should be tattooed on the arm or buttocks to protect further victimisation of drug users and homosexuals, while the Reagan administration remained silent. The work combined the use of the popular graphic and cardboard cut-outs of six public figures who had perpetrated the crisis in some form or other. It documented evidence of these public figures’ crimes such as misrepresentations of the AIDS to ignoring the issue altogether. The graphic was posted in different locations of the city, a strategy to increase awareness in various communities.
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
In 1985, The Quilt was created by gay right activist Cleve Jones. In a march to commemorate assassinations of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Major George Moscone, Jones learnt that over 1000 San Franciscans had been lost to the AIDS pandemic. He asked fellow marchers to write the names of their lost loved ones and taped placards to the wall of the Francisco Federal Building. The wall looked like a patchwork quilt which inspired plans for a larger memorial. The Quilt was continuously added to over the epidemic and now has over 110,000 names and spans a space larger than a football field. This work aims to memorialise those that society at the time would otherwise neglect.
David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz was an American artist who defied being pigeon holed by a signature style. His works spanned that of photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing and activism. Queer and later diagnosed with HIV, he became an advocate for people with AIDS when an inconceivable number of his loved ones were dying due to government inaction. His teacher and lover and artist in his own right, Peter Hujar, passed away in 1987. He passed away from AIDS and Wojnarowicz photographed him, moments after his death, hauntingly and more importantly accurately documenting what AIDS does to a human being. Hujar was known for being a strikingly good-looking man with a strong jaw, and this disease had destroyed him and rendered him unrecognisable. Wojnarowicz’work, whilst full of rage and political points, also captured the experience and suffering of an individual with AIDS rather than referring to it as a general issue. Whilst shocking, his images of Hujar were deeply personal and communicated the true nature of the disease making them very hard for the public to ignore.
Art can be as important as science. Artist activists, groups and individuals alike, were the driving force for the increased attention to AIDS. Governments were willing to ignore the crisis and not address it in the media. Artistic movements increased public awareness and knowledge and lead to the later development of drugs that make HIV something more manageable in this day and age.
Art has the ability to humanise experiences of suffering. It documents past wars, genocides, and tragedies. By capturing moments of pain these experiences are immortalised. Furthermore, artists have the ability, unlike any politician or ruler, to create pieces of work that truly capture and highlight emotive and painful experiences, making them more easily translated and understood by wider audiences. One example of this, was the AIDS epidemic.
The AIDS epidemic began in the early 1980s. Along with it brought condemnation of the LGBT community. Artist activists documenting the AIDS pandemic sought to make a socio-political statement that communicated how the LGBT community had been marginalised. They stressed the medical impact of the disease whilst also delivering a message that expressed loss.
Gran Fury
Before the times of social media, getting a message out to the public and mass audiences was not simple. The arty activists’ collective known as Gran Fury, based in New York, utilised a powerful and dynamic combination of graphic design, guerrilla dissemination tactics and public installations to communicate important socio-political matters. One such piece was SILENCE = DEATH, a graphic that came to define the AIDS/HIV activist movement of the 1980s and 1990s. The graphic uses a pink neon triangle, a symbol used by Nazis to mark gay men in death camps, to further the analogy between the AIDS crisis and the Holocaust.
One other powerful work created by Gran Fury was the installation ‘Let the Record Show’. This installation was a response to an editorial piece by archconservative William F. Buckley who had proposed that people with AIDS should be tattooed on the arm or buttocks to protect further victimisation of drug users and homosexuals, while the Reagan administration remained silent. The work combined the use of the popular graphic and cardboard cut-outs of six public figures who had perpetrated the crisis in some form or other. It documented evidence of these public figures’ crimes such as misrepresentations of the AIDS to ignoring the issue altogether. The graphic was posted in different locations of the city, a strategy to increase awareness in various communities.
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
In 1985, The Quilt was created by gay right activist Cleve Jones. In a march to commemorate assassinations of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Major George Moscone, Jones learnt that over 1000 San Franciscans had been lost to the AIDS pandemic. He asked fellow marchers to write the names of their lost loved ones and taped placards to the wall of the Francisco Federal Building. The wall looked like a patchwork quilt which inspired plans for a larger memorial. The Quilt was continuously added to over the epidemic and now has over 110,000 names and spans a space larger than a football field. This work aims to memorialise those that society at the time would otherwise neglect.
David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz was an American artist who defied being pigeon holed by a signature style. His works spanned that of photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing and activism. Queer and later diagnosed with HIV, he became an advocate for people with AIDS when an inconceivable number of his loved ones were dying due to government inaction. His teacher and lover and artist in his own right, Peter Hujar, passed away in 1987. He passed away from AIDS and Wojnarowicz photographed him, moments after his death, hauntingly and more importantly accurately documenting what AIDS does to a human being. Hujar was known for being a strikingly good-looking man with a strong jaw, and this disease had destroyed him and rendered him unrecognisable. Wojnarowicz’work, whilst full of rage and political points, also captured the experience and suffering of an individual with AIDS rather than referring to it as a general issue. Whilst shocking, his images of Hujar were deeply personal and communicated the true nature of the disease making them very hard for the public to ignore.
Art can be as important as science. Artist activists, groups and individuals alike, were the driving force for the increased attention to AIDS. Governments were willing to ignore the crisis and not address it in the media. Artistic movements increased public awareness and knowledge and lead to the later development of drugs that make HIV something more manageable in this day and age.
Art has the ability to humanise experiences of suffering. It documents past wars, genocides, and tragedies. By capturing moments of pain these experiences are immortalised. Furthermore, artists have the ability, unlike any politician or ruler, to create pieces of work that truly capture and highlight emotive and painful experiences, making them more easily translated and understood by wider audiences. One example of this, was the AIDS epidemic.
The AIDS epidemic began in the early 1980s. Along with it brought condemnation of the LGBT community. Artist activists documenting the AIDS pandemic sought to make a socio-political statement that communicated how the LGBT community had been marginalised. They stressed the medical impact of the disease whilst also delivering a message that expressed loss.
Gran Fury
Before the times of social media, getting a message out to the public and mass audiences was not simple. The arty activists’ collective known as Gran Fury, based in New York, utilised a powerful and dynamic combination of graphic design, guerrilla dissemination tactics and public installations to communicate important socio-political matters. One such piece was SILENCE = DEATH, a graphic that came to define the AIDS/HIV activist movement of the 1980s and 1990s. The graphic uses a pink neon triangle, a symbol used by Nazis to mark gay men in death camps, to further the analogy between the AIDS crisis and the Holocaust.
One other powerful work created by Gran Fury was the installation ‘Let the Record Show’. This installation was a response to an editorial piece by archconservative William F. Buckley who had proposed that people with AIDS should be tattooed on the arm or buttocks to protect further victimisation of drug users and homosexuals, while the Reagan administration remained silent. The work combined the use of the popular graphic and cardboard cut-outs of six public figures who had perpetrated the crisis in some form or other. It documented evidence of these public figures’ crimes such as misrepresentations of the AIDS to ignoring the issue altogether. The graphic was posted in different locations of the city, a strategy to increase awareness in various communities.
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
In 1985, The Quilt was created by gay right activist Cleve Jones. In a march to commemorate assassinations of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Major George Moscone, Jones learnt that over 1000 San Franciscans had been lost to the AIDS pandemic. He asked fellow marchers to write the names of their lost loved ones and taped placards to the wall of the Francisco Federal Building. The wall looked like a patchwork quilt which inspired plans for a larger memorial. The Quilt was continuously added to over the epidemic and now has over 110,000 names and spans a space larger than a football field. This work aims to memorialise those that society at the time would otherwise neglect.
David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz was an American artist who defied being pigeon holed by a signature style. His works spanned that of photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing and activism. Queer and later diagnosed with HIV, he became an advocate for people with AIDS when an inconceivable number of his loved ones were dying due to government inaction. His teacher and lover and artist in his own right, Peter Hujar, passed away in 1987. He passed away from AIDS and Wojnarowicz photographed him, moments after his death, hauntingly and more importantly accurately documenting what AIDS does to a human being. Hujar was known for being a strikingly good-looking man with a strong jaw, and this disease had destroyed him and rendered him unrecognisable. Wojnarowicz’work, whilst full of rage and political points, also captured the experience and suffering of an individual with AIDS rather than referring to it as a general issue. Whilst shocking, his images of Hujar were deeply personal and communicated the true nature of the disease making them very hard for the public to ignore.
Art can be as important as science. Artist activists, groups and individuals alike, were the driving force for the increased attention to AIDS. Governments were willing to ignore the crisis and not address it in the media. Artistic movements increased public awareness and knowledge and lead to the later development of drugs that make HIV something more manageable in this day and age.
Art has the ability to humanise experiences of suffering. It documents past wars, genocides, and tragedies. By capturing moments of pain these experiences are immortalised. Furthermore, artists have the ability, unlike any politician or ruler, to create pieces of work that truly capture and highlight emotive and painful experiences, making them more easily translated and understood by wider audiences. One example of this, was the AIDS epidemic.
The AIDS epidemic began in the early 1980s. Along with it brought condemnation of the LGBT community. Artist activists documenting the AIDS pandemic sought to make a socio-political statement that communicated how the LGBT community had been marginalised. They stressed the medical impact of the disease whilst also delivering a message that expressed loss.
Gran Fury
Before the times of social media, getting a message out to the public and mass audiences was not simple. The arty activists’ collective known as Gran Fury, based in New York, utilised a powerful and dynamic combination of graphic design, guerrilla dissemination tactics and public installations to communicate important socio-political matters. One such piece was SILENCE = DEATH, a graphic that came to define the AIDS/HIV activist movement of the 1980s and 1990s. The graphic uses a pink neon triangle, a symbol used by Nazis to mark gay men in death camps, to further the analogy between the AIDS crisis and the Holocaust.
One other powerful work created by Gran Fury was the installation ‘Let the Record Show’. This installation was a response to an editorial piece by archconservative William F. Buckley who had proposed that people with AIDS should be tattooed on the arm or buttocks to protect further victimisation of drug users and homosexuals, while the Reagan administration remained silent. The work combined the use of the popular graphic and cardboard cut-outs of six public figures who had perpetrated the crisis in some form or other. It documented evidence of these public figures’ crimes such as misrepresentations of the AIDS to ignoring the issue altogether. The graphic was posted in different locations of the city, a strategy to increase awareness in various communities.
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
In 1985, The Quilt was created by gay right activist Cleve Jones. In a march to commemorate assassinations of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Major George Moscone, Jones learnt that over 1000 San Franciscans had been lost to the AIDS pandemic. He asked fellow marchers to write the names of their lost loved ones and taped placards to the wall of the Francisco Federal Building. The wall looked like a patchwork quilt which inspired plans for a larger memorial. The Quilt was continuously added to over the epidemic and now has over 110,000 names and spans a space larger than a football field. This work aims to memorialise those that society at the time would otherwise neglect.
David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz was an American artist who defied being pigeon holed by a signature style. His works spanned that of photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing and activism. Queer and later diagnosed with HIV, he became an advocate for people with AIDS when an inconceivable number of his loved ones were dying due to government inaction. His teacher and lover and artist in his own right, Peter Hujar, passed away in 1987. He passed away from AIDS and Wojnarowicz photographed him, moments after his death, hauntingly and more importantly accurately documenting what AIDS does to a human being. Hujar was known for being a strikingly good-looking man with a strong jaw, and this disease had destroyed him and rendered him unrecognisable. Wojnarowicz’work, whilst full of rage and political points, also captured the experience and suffering of an individual with AIDS rather than referring to it as a general issue. Whilst shocking, his images of Hujar were deeply personal and communicated the true nature of the disease making them very hard for the public to ignore.
Art can be as important as science. Artist activists, groups and individuals alike, were the driving force for the increased attention to AIDS. Governments were willing to ignore the crisis and not address it in the media. Artistic movements increased public awareness and knowledge and lead to the later development of drugs that make HIV something more manageable in this day and age.
Art has the ability to humanise experiences of suffering. It documents past wars, genocides, and tragedies. By capturing moments of pain these experiences are immortalised. Furthermore, artists have the ability, unlike any politician or ruler, to create pieces of work that truly capture and highlight emotive and painful experiences, making them more easily translated and understood by wider audiences. One example of this, was the AIDS epidemic.
The AIDS epidemic began in the early 1980s. Along with it brought condemnation of the LGBT community. Artist activists documenting the AIDS pandemic sought to make a socio-political statement that communicated how the LGBT community had been marginalised. They stressed the medical impact of the disease whilst also delivering a message that expressed loss.
Gran Fury
Before the times of social media, getting a message out to the public and mass audiences was not simple. The arty activists’ collective known as Gran Fury, based in New York, utilised a powerful and dynamic combination of graphic design, guerrilla dissemination tactics and public installations to communicate important socio-political matters. One such piece was SILENCE = DEATH, a graphic that came to define the AIDS/HIV activist movement of the 1980s and 1990s. The graphic uses a pink neon triangle, a symbol used by Nazis to mark gay men in death camps, to further the analogy between the AIDS crisis and the Holocaust.
One other powerful work created by Gran Fury was the installation ‘Let the Record Show’. This installation was a response to an editorial piece by archconservative William F. Buckley who had proposed that people with AIDS should be tattooed on the arm or buttocks to protect further victimisation of drug users and homosexuals, while the Reagan administration remained silent. The work combined the use of the popular graphic and cardboard cut-outs of six public figures who had perpetrated the crisis in some form or other. It documented evidence of these public figures’ crimes such as misrepresentations of the AIDS to ignoring the issue altogether. The graphic was posted in different locations of the city, a strategy to increase awareness in various communities.
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
In 1985, The Quilt was created by gay right activist Cleve Jones. In a march to commemorate assassinations of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Major George Moscone, Jones learnt that over 1000 San Franciscans had been lost to the AIDS pandemic. He asked fellow marchers to write the names of their lost loved ones and taped placards to the wall of the Francisco Federal Building. The wall looked like a patchwork quilt which inspired plans for a larger memorial. The Quilt was continuously added to over the epidemic and now has over 110,000 names and spans a space larger than a football field. This work aims to memorialise those that society at the time would otherwise neglect.
David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz was an American artist who defied being pigeon holed by a signature style. His works spanned that of photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing and activism. Queer and later diagnosed with HIV, he became an advocate for people with AIDS when an inconceivable number of his loved ones were dying due to government inaction. His teacher and lover and artist in his own right, Peter Hujar, passed away in 1987. He passed away from AIDS and Wojnarowicz photographed him, moments after his death, hauntingly and more importantly accurately documenting what AIDS does to a human being. Hujar was known for being a strikingly good-looking man with a strong jaw, and this disease had destroyed him and rendered him unrecognisable. Wojnarowicz’work, whilst full of rage and political points, also captured the experience and suffering of an individual with AIDS rather than referring to it as a general issue. Whilst shocking, his images of Hujar were deeply personal and communicated the true nature of the disease making them very hard for the public to ignore.
Art can be as important as science. Artist activists, groups and individuals alike, were the driving force for the increased attention to AIDS. Governments were willing to ignore the crisis and not address it in the media. Artistic movements increased public awareness and knowledge and lead to the later development of drugs that make HIV something more manageable in this day and age.
Art has the ability to humanise experiences of suffering. It documents past wars, genocides, and tragedies. By capturing moments of pain these experiences are immortalised. Furthermore, artists have the ability, unlike any politician or ruler, to create pieces of work that truly capture and highlight emotive and painful experiences, making them more easily translated and understood by wider audiences. One example of this, was the AIDS epidemic.
The AIDS epidemic began in the early 1980s. Along with it brought condemnation of the LGBT community. Artist activists documenting the AIDS pandemic sought to make a socio-political statement that communicated how the LGBT community had been marginalised. They stressed the medical impact of the disease whilst also delivering a message that expressed loss.
Gran Fury
Before the times of social media, getting a message out to the public and mass audiences was not simple. The arty activists’ collective known as Gran Fury, based in New York, utilised a powerful and dynamic combination of graphic design, guerrilla dissemination tactics and public installations to communicate important socio-political matters. One such piece was SILENCE = DEATH, a graphic that came to define the AIDS/HIV activist movement of the 1980s and 1990s. The graphic uses a pink neon triangle, a symbol used by Nazis to mark gay men in death camps, to further the analogy between the AIDS crisis and the Holocaust.
One other powerful work created by Gran Fury was the installation ‘Let the Record Show’. This installation was a response to an editorial piece by archconservative William F. Buckley who had proposed that people with AIDS should be tattooed on the arm or buttocks to protect further victimisation of drug users and homosexuals, while the Reagan administration remained silent. The work combined the use of the popular graphic and cardboard cut-outs of six public figures who had perpetrated the crisis in some form or other. It documented evidence of these public figures’ crimes such as misrepresentations of the AIDS to ignoring the issue altogether. The graphic was posted in different locations of the city, a strategy to increase awareness in various communities.
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
In 1985, The Quilt was created by gay right activist Cleve Jones. In a march to commemorate assassinations of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Major George Moscone, Jones learnt that over 1000 San Franciscans had been lost to the AIDS pandemic. He asked fellow marchers to write the names of their lost loved ones and taped placards to the wall of the Francisco Federal Building. The wall looked like a patchwork quilt which inspired plans for a larger memorial. The Quilt was continuously added to over the epidemic and now has over 110,000 names and spans a space larger than a football field. This work aims to memorialise those that society at the time would otherwise neglect.
David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz was an American artist who defied being pigeon holed by a signature style. His works spanned that of photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing and activism. Queer and later diagnosed with HIV, he became an advocate for people with AIDS when an inconceivable number of his loved ones were dying due to government inaction. His teacher and lover and artist in his own right, Peter Hujar, passed away in 1987. He passed away from AIDS and Wojnarowicz photographed him, moments after his death, hauntingly and more importantly accurately documenting what AIDS does to a human being. Hujar was known for being a strikingly good-looking man with a strong jaw, and this disease had destroyed him and rendered him unrecognisable. Wojnarowicz’work, whilst full of rage and political points, also captured the experience and suffering of an individual with AIDS rather than referring to it as a general issue. Whilst shocking, his images of Hujar were deeply personal and communicated the true nature of the disease making them very hard for the public to ignore.
Art can be as important as science. Artist activists, groups and individuals alike, were the driving force for the increased attention to AIDS. Governments were willing to ignore the crisis and not address it in the media. Artistic movements increased public awareness and knowledge and lead to the later development of drugs that make HIV something more manageable in this day and age.
Art has the ability to humanise experiences of suffering. It documents past wars, genocides, and tragedies. By capturing moments of pain these experiences are immortalised. Furthermore, artists have the ability, unlike any politician or ruler, to create pieces of work that truly capture and highlight emotive and painful experiences, making them more easily translated and understood by wider audiences. One example of this, was the AIDS epidemic.
The AIDS epidemic began in the early 1980s. Along with it brought condemnation of the LGBT community. Artist activists documenting the AIDS pandemic sought to make a socio-political statement that communicated how the LGBT community had been marginalised. They stressed the medical impact of the disease whilst also delivering a message that expressed loss.
Gran Fury
Before the times of social media, getting a message out to the public and mass audiences was not simple. The arty activists’ collective known as Gran Fury, based in New York, utilised a powerful and dynamic combination of graphic design, guerrilla dissemination tactics and public installations to communicate important socio-political matters. One such piece was SILENCE = DEATH, a graphic that came to define the AIDS/HIV activist movement of the 1980s and 1990s. The graphic uses a pink neon triangle, a symbol used by Nazis to mark gay men in death camps, to further the analogy between the AIDS crisis and the Holocaust.
One other powerful work created by Gran Fury was the installation ‘Let the Record Show’. This installation was a response to an editorial piece by archconservative William F. Buckley who had proposed that people with AIDS should be tattooed on the arm or buttocks to protect further victimisation of drug users and homosexuals, while the Reagan administration remained silent. The work combined the use of the popular graphic and cardboard cut-outs of six public figures who had perpetrated the crisis in some form or other. It documented evidence of these public figures’ crimes such as misrepresentations of the AIDS to ignoring the issue altogether. The graphic was posted in different locations of the city, a strategy to increase awareness in various communities.
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
In 1985, The Quilt was created by gay right activist Cleve Jones. In a march to commemorate assassinations of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Major George Moscone, Jones learnt that over 1000 San Franciscans had been lost to the AIDS pandemic. He asked fellow marchers to write the names of their lost loved ones and taped placards to the wall of the Francisco Federal Building. The wall looked like a patchwork quilt which inspired plans for a larger memorial. The Quilt was continuously added to over the epidemic and now has over 110,000 names and spans a space larger than a football field. This work aims to memorialise those that society at the time would otherwise neglect.
David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz was an American artist who defied being pigeon holed by a signature style. His works spanned that of photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing and activism. Queer and later diagnosed with HIV, he became an advocate for people with AIDS when an inconceivable number of his loved ones were dying due to government inaction. His teacher and lover and artist in his own right, Peter Hujar, passed away in 1987. He passed away from AIDS and Wojnarowicz photographed him, moments after his death, hauntingly and more importantly accurately documenting what AIDS does to a human being. Hujar was known for being a strikingly good-looking man with a strong jaw, and this disease had destroyed him and rendered him unrecognisable. Wojnarowicz’work, whilst full of rage and political points, also captured the experience and suffering of an individual with AIDS rather than referring to it as a general issue. Whilst shocking, his images of Hujar were deeply personal and communicated the true nature of the disease making them very hard for the public to ignore.
Art can be as important as science. Artist activists, groups and individuals alike, were the driving force for the increased attention to AIDS. Governments were willing to ignore the crisis and not address it in the media. Artistic movements increased public awareness and knowledge and lead to the later development of drugs that make HIV something more manageable in this day and age.
Art has the ability to humanise experiences of suffering. It documents past wars, genocides, and tragedies. By capturing moments of pain these experiences are immortalised. Furthermore, artists have the ability, unlike any politician or ruler, to create pieces of work that truly capture and highlight emotive and painful experiences, making them more easily translated and understood by wider audiences. One example of this, was the AIDS epidemic.
The AIDS epidemic began in the early 1980s. Along with it brought condemnation of the LGBT community. Artist activists documenting the AIDS pandemic sought to make a socio-political statement that communicated how the LGBT community had been marginalised. They stressed the medical impact of the disease whilst also delivering a message that expressed loss.
Gran Fury
Before the times of social media, getting a message out to the public and mass audiences was not simple. The arty activists’ collective known as Gran Fury, based in New York, utilised a powerful and dynamic combination of graphic design, guerrilla dissemination tactics and public installations to communicate important socio-political matters. One such piece was SILENCE = DEATH, a graphic that came to define the AIDS/HIV activist movement of the 1980s and 1990s. The graphic uses a pink neon triangle, a symbol used by Nazis to mark gay men in death camps, to further the analogy between the AIDS crisis and the Holocaust.
One other powerful work created by Gran Fury was the installation ‘Let the Record Show’. This installation was a response to an editorial piece by archconservative William F. Buckley who had proposed that people with AIDS should be tattooed on the arm or buttocks to protect further victimisation of drug users and homosexuals, while the Reagan administration remained silent. The work combined the use of the popular graphic and cardboard cut-outs of six public figures who had perpetrated the crisis in some form or other. It documented evidence of these public figures’ crimes such as misrepresentations of the AIDS to ignoring the issue altogether. The graphic was posted in different locations of the city, a strategy to increase awareness in various communities.
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
In 1985, The Quilt was created by gay right activist Cleve Jones. In a march to commemorate assassinations of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Major George Moscone, Jones learnt that over 1000 San Franciscans had been lost to the AIDS pandemic. He asked fellow marchers to write the names of their lost loved ones and taped placards to the wall of the Francisco Federal Building. The wall looked like a patchwork quilt which inspired plans for a larger memorial. The Quilt was continuously added to over the epidemic and now has over 110,000 names and spans a space larger than a football field. This work aims to memorialise those that society at the time would otherwise neglect.
David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz was an American artist who defied being pigeon holed by a signature style. His works spanned that of photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing and activism. Queer and later diagnosed with HIV, he became an advocate for people with AIDS when an inconceivable number of his loved ones were dying due to government inaction. His teacher and lover and artist in his own right, Peter Hujar, passed away in 1987. He passed away from AIDS and Wojnarowicz photographed him, moments after his death, hauntingly and more importantly accurately documenting what AIDS does to a human being. Hujar was known for being a strikingly good-looking man with a strong jaw, and this disease had destroyed him and rendered him unrecognisable. Wojnarowicz’work, whilst full of rage and political points, also captured the experience and suffering of an individual with AIDS rather than referring to it as a general issue. Whilst shocking, his images of Hujar were deeply personal and communicated the true nature of the disease making them very hard for the public to ignore.
Art can be as important as science. Artist activists, groups and individuals alike, were the driving force for the increased attention to AIDS. Governments were willing to ignore the crisis and not address it in the media. Artistic movements increased public awareness and knowledge and lead to the later development of drugs that make HIV something more manageable in this day and age.
